The Trump campaign announced Wednesday that both Bannon and Kellyanne Conway, the founder and President of The Polling Company, Inc./WomanTrend and the former head of a SuperPAC supporting Ted Cruz will be playing key roles spearheading the campaign. But Spicer promised a “very focused, very disciplined” campaign down the stretch.
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“I have known Steve and Kellyanne for many years”, stated Trump.
Bannon has helped the conservative outlet become one of the most effective conservative publications – and one of the most vocal Trump backers – in online media, but he has no experience in campaigns.
Like the news organization he ran until joining the Trump campaign, Bannon is known as a hard-right provocateur who takes a no-holds-barred approach when dealing with political enemies.
Bannon, a former banker for investment firm Goldman Sachs, mirrors Trump’s image as a political outsider. A longtime Republican strategist and pollster, she has close ties to Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
Trump’s turn to media executives is also likely to fuel speculation that the candidate may be positioning himself for a future in conservative media after the campaign. Manafort was the victor of the last one, getting rid of the then campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Manafort helped the party secretly route at least $2.2 million in payments to two prominent Washington lobbying firms in 2012, doing so in a way that effectively obscured the party’s efforts to influence USA policy. “They are extremely capable, highly qualified people who love to win and know how to win”.
Initially, Trump stayed true to his unorthodox style, but more recently, he has been working harder on getting more support and “firepower” behind his campaign in traditional ways. Early voting begins in a handful of states in September. Additional senior hires are expected soon.
The shift to new leadership may not be a good sign at this stage of a campaign, but some Republican strategists said it was not too late for Trump. Ms. Conway is a pollster who may aim to shore up Mr. Trump’s weaknesses: Over the years, she has sought to expand the GOP’s appeal to women, a group that Mr. Trump is struggling to win over.
The campaign shakeup comes as the campaign prepares to launch its first television ads of the general election.
But the notoriously blustery real estate mogul has shrugged off these efforts, continuing to get in trouble for off-the-cuff comments like his claim that “Second Amendment people” could keep Hillary Clinton from appointing liberal Supreme Court justices.
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Clinton said at a voter registration event at a Philadelphia high school that she’s “not taking anybody anywhere for granted” in the race for the White House.
